Encoding billing model
Encoding Service usage in the Cloud is paid by the number of the output video minutes. The price depends on the codec and the quality level (SD/HD/UHD1/UHD2).
For every encoding job, a log entry is created. This log entry contains all the details necessary for billing. For each generated video stream, the log entry contains:
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display resolution
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bitrate
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codec, e.g., H.264, H.265
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output format, e.g. SD, HD, UHD1, UHD2
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if the per-scene option was used
Based on their display resolution, the streams are grouped into quality groups. The following quality groups are applied:
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SD - below 720p
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HD - from 720p to 1080p, thus covering "HD" and "Full HD"
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UHD1 - up to 2160p (inclusive), "4K"
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UHD2 - up to 4320p (inclusive), "8K"
For the monthly bill, the total output minutes are grouped by quality groups and codecs.
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Note
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How many output formats are produced (DASH, HLS, CMAF) doesn’t affect the bill. |
The minute price increases with the stream quality.
Regarding codecs, H.264 (AVC) has the lowest price. The other, more efficient codecs, such as H.265 (HVEC) are more expensive as they require more computational resources during encoding.
If you use a per-scene encoding, the price is slightly higher, but you save on the size of the encoded video and hence save on the bandwidth for streaming/CDN and improve the players behavior.
Only successfully completed encoding jobs get billed. We won’t bill if a job produces only partial output (e.g., only 5 out of 6 requested bitrates get generated successfully).